


The Gift

by StellaLuna34



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: ? Idk man, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Stanley Uris Lives, Suspense, the Shining - Freeform, this is just a sleep-deprived idea I had and I wanted to write it so here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-11-23 07:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20888621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellaLuna34/pseuds/StellaLuna34
Summary: 5 years after the defeat of IT, Richie and Eddie are happily married and adopted a girl named Sierra. For the first time in their lives, they feel truly happy and at peace with the past. However, when Eddie and Sierra get into a bizarre accident, Sierra temporarily loses her memory of them. While they try to piece her memories back together, she begins to notice things lurking in the shadows. Ghosts from the past start appearing, and only her and the hospital nurse she befriended can see them. The terrible chapter of Eddie and Richie’s life has to be brought up again, but it's the only way to figure out what’s coming.Or tl;dr : I’m really sad from IT 2,  I’m hyped for Doctor Sleep, and I am sleep deprived so here’s a wack idea I had.Also please don’t take this too seriously. I’m just trying to practice writing.





	1. Who Are You?

_ All she could see in her field of vision was white. Flakes of color drifted around her as she tried to focus on the ground she sat on. She could tell the pavement was a darker shade of tan, but it looked lighter due to the blinding light she sat in front of. Muffled voices rang in her ears, despite them being far behind her. Rummaging thoughts flickered through her brain like an old Television trying to get a distant signal. As she stared down at her hands, she moved each finger to regain her surrounds, but no matter how much she did, her hands still buzzed as if they were static. _

_ “Mind if I sit next to you?” A clear, calm voice asked, breaking the muffled barrier. She turned her head towards the crystal clear sound to see a blurry figure. She couldn’t see a face, but she could see some features. As she shook her head, the figure sat down next to her and gazed into the light. _

_ “Why aren’t you playing with the others?” The voice asked again. _

_ “They like to steal my toys.” She huffed. “And they play mean.”  _

_ She saw the figure nod slightly from her peripheral.  _

_ “Are you that guy from the TV?” She asked, unable to stop her thoughts from spilling. She heard the figure chuckle. _

_ “Yup.” He replied as he took off his black-framed glasses to clean them. “You’re technically not supposed to watch that. It’s not for kids.” _

_ “Whatever. She doesn’t care what we watch.” She heard herself say. She didn’t have to see him to sense a frown from him. As she turned her head to face him again, part of her vision cleared. She could see the waves in his dark hair and the prickly stubble on his face. He was older than the couples that had visited.  _

_ “Am I at least funny?” He asked as he looked to her, and she was able to see the blue in his eyes. They weren’t a piercing blue like she had seen in others. It was more of a softer blue, like the blue she saw in the sky, or in baby blankets. _

_ “Welllll…” She said, trailing off while she tried to hide a smile. “You’re okay.” _

_ The man smiled warmly, and shook his head. _

_ “Man, tough crowd.” He laughed. Before they could say anything else, a muffled voice called from behind them. The man next to her turned around and his smile grew brighter. As she turned around, she only saw moving blurs until another man walked towards them. He had lighter, shorter hair than the one next to her, and he was clean-shaven. She couldn’t tell what he was wearing, but it looked more formal than what the man next to her wore.  _

_ “Hey, you finally made a friend.” The man remarked as he sat down in the empty space next to her, and the glasses one swatted at him playfully. “Hopefully he’s not bothering you too much.” _

_ She smiled and shook her head. _

_ “Apparently I need to work on my jokes.” The man with the glasses sighed jokingly. “According to her, they’re subpar”. _

_ “I told you to write your own stuff.” The clean-shaven man laughed, then turned to her. “And aren’t you a little young to be watching that?” _

_ “Hey, I didn’t change the channel. It was just on.” She explained as she shrugged. The clean-shaven man shook his head disapprovingly, but she saw him trying to suppress a smirk. As she looked at him again,she noticed he sat more upright and with better posture than the other man. A small, shining object in his hand also caught her attention. A simple silver band wrapped around the man’s ring finger and dazzled brightly from the light in front of them. She turned her head to look at the other man, and she found a similar band on his ring finger as well.  _

_ As they continued chatting with her, she secretly hoped they wouldn’t talk to the others. They made her smile and laugh, and while other couples did as well, it felt different. She didn’t feel distant with them, and they didn’t raise their voice an octave when they talked with her. She knew she was young, but she was fairly certain she wasn’t t hat young. _

_ The light that shone brightly in front of them grew larger, and a comforting warmth washed over her. Her vision grew white again, but the sounds of their cheerful voices still echoed in her ears.  _

~*~

A loud, robotic beeping pierced through her groggy thoughts, and she grumbled. A headache began to spread through her forehead as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes.

“Sierra?” A shakey, quiet voice asked. She brought her hands up to her eyes only to see an IV sticking out of one. She tried to sit up, but a light weight on her shoulder kept her from doing it. As her vision began to clear up, she began to recognize the sounds in the room. The beeps came from various machines beside her, and she assumed she was in a hospital. If the machines weren’t some sort of indication, the blank, white walls definitely were. As she scanned the room, her eyes fell on a man sitting next to her hospital bed. He had taken his glasses off to wipe falling tears. 

“Why are you crying?” She asked without thinking.

“I’m just happy you’re alright, sweetie.” He replied, his voice wavering. Her brow furrowed as she sat in silence for a moment.

“Why did you call me that?” She asked, and noticed the man go deathly still. 

“What do you mean? I always call you that.” He softly laughed, but part of her knew it was from nerves.

“I don’t remember anyone calling me that.” 

The man looked up at her with wide eyes, and she froze at the sight of them. The man sitting next to her looked slightly familiar, but she couldn’t tell if she knew him or not. However, the blue in his eyes made her question her memories. She somehow knew that pale sky blue, but the vision was hazy. 

“What do you remember?” He asked, and his fearful tone made her heart drop to her stomach. She looked down at her hands and felt her eyes prickle with forming tears.

“I…” She sighed. “I don’t know.” 

“Do you know where you are?”

“A hospital?” She asked, and the man nodded. “But I don’t know why I’m here.”

She couldn’t read the flickering emotions on the man’s face. 

“Do you know who I am?”

She forced herself to look him in the eye, hoping to spark some sort of idea in her brain, but the sight of his exhausted frame and the dark circles under her eyes made her heart sink even further. She felt her vision go blurry from tears.

“Not really,” She sighed, and she couldn't stop her tears from falling. “but I feel like I should. You’re with me at a hospital.” 

The man took off his glasses and put his face in his hands, and she felt her throat tightening from trying to hold her tears back. A deafening silence filled the hospital room, and she wanted to bury herself under the stiff, white sheets she had. More tears streamed down her face, and she tried wiping them discreetly. 

“I’m sorry.” She whispered as she curled her hands into fists. Her stomach churned as she rummaged through her memories. She couldn’t tell whether the scattered pieces of her memories were real or from a dream. Her fingernails were digging into her palm, even through the sheets, but she couldn’t feel it. Her knuckles were beginning to turn pale when a gentle hand covered one of her hands. The iron grasp she held loosened as she looked up to see the man. His eyes looked tired and on the verge of tears, but he held a calm, gentle expression. 

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” He replied softly. “I’ll get the doctor, and she can fill you in on what happened.”

She nodded and took in a deep breath. 

“What about you?” She asked as he began to turn towards the door.

“I’ll give you some time. You were an accident, and someone else was with you too. I’m just going to check up on them.” He explained as he pointed across the hall. 

“Are they alright?”

“Yeah. He’s just not happy because he hates hospitals.” He chuckled lightly. 

Although she didn’t really know him, part of her wanted him to stay. He seemed more familiar than the various nurses that checked up on her. 

She wished she could just remember.

  
  



	2. Hoping for the Best

(Warning for swearing)

No matter how much Richie tried to hide things, Eddie knew when something was up. He was able to tell since they were younger and his intuition had only gotten better over the years, even with the memory gap. However, Eddie didn’t have to look at Richie to know something was very wrong. The slow steps his husband took into the room were telling enough. As Eddie lifted his head towards the entrance of the room, his eyes landed on Richie’s bloodshot eyes and damp cheeks. 

“Is she alright?” He asked as he sat up in his bed. Richie only nodded as he sat on the side of the hospital bed and wrapped his arms around Eddie. As Eddie returned the hug, he could feel Richie trembling.

“Rich, you’re scaring me.” He gulped, and he heard Richie take in a shallow breath. He held the breath in for a moment before releasing it with a sigh.

“She doesn’t remember.” He replied weakly. 

“The accident?” Eddie asked, hoping it wasn’t as bad as the thoughts screaming in his head.

“Us. She doesn’t remember us.” 

Eddie’s grip around Richie grew tighter, and Richie followed suit.

“What did the doctor say?” Eddie asked as he tried clearing his throat. His chest felt tight and his hands began to tremble, but he knew he had to hold back his tears.

“They don’t know why it’s happening, but the doctor said it's not the worst it could be.” Richie said in his shoulder. 

“That’s a good thing, right?” 

Another pause filled the air as they broke their hug.

“It is,” Richie agreed. “But it’s not going to be the same.”

Eddie tried to fight the urge to frown, but ended up failing. Millions of questions rattled in his skull, but when he tried asking them, nothing came out. There was so much more he needed to know, and it was making the knot in his stomach tighten. He couldn’t tell which was worse; the fact that the doctor hadn’t come around to update him on Sierra, or the fact that he couldn’t walk around to ask himself. 

He closed his eyes and grabbed Richie’s hand. He needed to stop thinking. Richie lightly squeezed his hand, and Eddie knew he was silently agreeing with him. 

“We’ll get through this.” Richie whispered as he brought up Eddie’s hand and softly kissed it. “If we can kill a fucking shape-shifting clown, then we can get through anything.”

Eddie couldn’t help but smile, and Richie’s expression softened. 

~*~

Sierra hated the fact that she couldn’t name anyone, despite them being very familiar. She hated the fact that she couldn’t remember the man with the glasses’ name, but she could get glimpses of him in her memory. Various cards were delivered to her hospital room, but she couldn’t recognize the handwritten names on them.

“You’re expected to make a full recovery,” She remembered the doctor say. “But it’s going to take time. You’re not going to remember everything all at once.”

Her head throbbed most of the time, despite the various medications they gave her. Luckily it was a dull pulse, and not a full-blown headache. The doctor assigned to her during the day, Dr. Jane Clarke, made sure she was as comfortable as possible. On the first few days she was conscious, Dr. Clarke kept the man with the glasses at a distance, just in case she was uncomfortable. Despite her brain drawing a blank on who he was, she still felt like she could trust him. He was the one who told her about the accident. 

Although she could tell he was nervous by his shaking hands, his explanation was straight to the point. She had been in a bad car accident. Some truck had hit them from the driver’s side and drove off. No one saw the license plate, and the accident happened so fast they couldn’t see what type of truck it was. Thankfully, the truck mainly hit the backseat, so the driver and her were able to get out of the accident with minimal injuries. 

After he had explained everything, Sierra had to take a series of tests. They ranged from words on a flashcard to a very loud MRI scan. No matter what the test was, the man with the glasses was around. He always sat close by, but made sure not to interfere with her focus on the test. Although some of the tests weren’t that scary, the fact that he was around calmed her nerves. 

He was even around outside of the tests. He would always wheel her wheelchair anywhere she wanted to go, and make sure she was comfortable when she had to go back to her hospital bed. 

“Why can’t I just walk?” She grumbled after they got out of another test. 

“Because you hit your head pretty hard in the accident, and I don’t think anyone here trusts you’ll stay standing for more than four seconds.” He replied, and she could hear a small smile in his voice.

“I can stand on my own.”

“Yeah, but I’d bet money that you’d eat it as soon as you stood up. Besides, you don’t need another head injury.” 

She rolled her eyes and sighed. A small huff of laughter came from him.

“Just wait a few more days.” He added. 

She took in a breath to argue, but he tapped her shoulder lightly to stop her. 

“I know it's been three days. You can wait two more.”

Sierra smiled at his remark. 

Once they were back in her hospital room and he had opened a newspaper to the crossword section for them to solve, she put her pen down and squinted at him playfully.

“You’re my dad, aren’t you?” She questioned, and his eyes went wide. He laughed and ran a hand through his dark, wavy hair. 

“Yes, I am.” He replied, and she saw his eyes get glassy.

“Okay, good.” She sighed in relief. “That would have been super awkward if you weren’t.”

She had assumed, and silently hoped, he was from the start. For all she knew, he could have been the foster parent she was with. Foster parents meant she still didn’t have a set home and family, and she wanted that more than ever now. 

He threw her a questioning look, furrowing his brows.

“Who else would I be?”

“I dunno. You could have been my super cool uncle.”

He let out a heartwarming laugh as he shook his head, and Sierra found herself laughing with him. 

“Are you saying I’m not super cool?” He asked as he put the newspaper to the chair next to him. 

“Since when are dad’s cool?” She giggled, and it earned her another shake of the head. 

“I see your sense of humor hasn’t changed.” 

Sierra could feel her chest bubble up as she smiled. Him being her dad meant she was adopted, and she had a home waiting for her. She had a family, and a new last name, although she was fairly certain she didn’t have a former last name. Memories of the orphanage still stood strong in her mind. 

She knew she had already been adopted, but excitement still buzzed in her stomach. 

“Listen,” he added gently, his voice getting slightly low. “I know things are still pretty confusing, so you don’t have to call me ‘dad’ yet. I’m-”

Sierra held up a hand, and he stopped.

“If you don’t have a cool name, then you definitely are not a cool dad.” She said, but started to laugh before she could finish her sentence.

“It’s Richie.” He said with a smile. She shook her head lightly.

“Yeah sorry, nothing cool about it.” 

~*~

“I can’t believe I’m here again.” A young voice hissed.

Sierra slowly opened her eyes to see soft, colored lights from several buttons on the wall. Darkness coated a portion of the room, but the dim light from the hallways spilled over and illuminated half of it. She took in a deep breath as she rubbed her eyes. As she looked to the front of the room, she didn’t see anyone walking past the doorway. Soft footsteps from nurses echoed far away from where she was at. 

The back of her head tingled as she heard quiet mumbling from the doorway. As she looked back to the door, she noticed a boy around her age messing with a cast on his arm. Her eyes darted to the clock on the wall to her right. The hour hand had just rested on the 11 as it continued to clack softly. She turned her gaze back to the boy. Even though her eyes were still heavy from sleep, she could tell the boy wore a collared shirt, shorts, and socks that were longer than they should be. Since when had those been in fashion? 

The sound of the boy dropping a pill bottle tore her from her thoughts. She heard him curse under his breath as he chased the bottle away from her room. However, her eye caught the small fanny pack hanging from the door handle.

Sierra sat up slowly from her bed and climbed into her wheelchair. As she started wheeling towards the door, she heard the boy curse from down the hallway and turned her head to the sound. A shiver ran down her spine when she wheeled into the hallway to find no one there. When she turned back to the door handle, the fanny pack had disappeared. Although the hallway was slightly lit, there were dark parts of it. With a gulp, she continued to wheel her chair forward slowly. The tingling on the back of her neck intensified.

As she turned her head slightly to see behind her, a slight movement in the dark corner of the hallway caught her eye. She held her breath and she watched it move closer in her direction. Her hands began to tremble when the figure stepped into the light. It was a man in a hospital gown, but his eyes were glazed over, and he stumbled as he walked. His skin was a deathly pale blue, and his hair looked like course,grey wires. Dirt and some other fluid caked his gown.

Sierra gripped the wheels of the chair and pushed them towards the light of the neighboring hospital room. She kept her eyes on the staggering man as she wheeled forward, and with every step he took, it seemed as if he was picking up his pace. She felt her throat close up as she felt sweat form on her back. 

“Careful!” A voice called out, and Sierra let out a scream she was holding back. She barely had time to react when her wheelchair collided with a brown door. An increasing pain spread throughout her left knee, but her focus went back to the hallway. When she turned her head around, the man had disappeared. 

“Are you alright?” The voice asked again. Sierra turned back to the lit up room to see a man sitting in a bed with his left foot in a brace and propped up. 

“Yeah. I’m fine.” She sighed as she wheeled her chair in the room, desperately hoping he wouldn’t kick her out. “I just thought I saw something.”

“Isn’t it a little late for you to be up?” He asked as he moved his feet so he could sit up. 

“Probably.” She said, glancing behind her and to the hallway again. When she turned back to him, she saw him look to the hallway. As she looked at him more, she felt herself freeze. The feeling of familiarity was back. She found herself recognizing his neatly combed, dark brown hair and the small scar on his cheek, but she couldn’t find the memory tied to it. 

“What happened to you?” She asked, gesturing to his leg. 

“I got in a car accident.” He replied, his voice going soft. Her hazel eyes widened and she nodded in understanding. She looked to his left hand, and she found a silver ring, which was strikingly similar to the one Richie had. Before either one could say more, her gaze landed on the pile of newspapers on a chair. She grabbed it and the pens resting on top of it before wheeling closer to the edge of the man’s bed.

“Are you tired?” She asked as she fiddled with the pens in her hands.

“Not really. I can’t sleep in hospitals.” The man sighed as he scrunched his shoulders before slightly shivering. 

She handed him the crossword section of the newspaper with one of the pens, and the tension in his shoulders relaxed. 

  
  



	3. You See It Too?

A brief wave of panic washed over Eddie as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. For a moment, he thought he was in the comfort of his home with Richie snoring by his side, but reality struck him as soon as he opened his eyes to the pale walls of the hospital. He took in a deep breath and sighed as he glanced at his propped up leg, which was out of the brace so he could sleep better. 

_ “Just one more day.” _ He told himself.  _ “Just one more day. Then we can finally leave this hellhole.” _

As he brought up his hand to rub his eyes, he felt resistance on his left arm. He looked to his left side with furrowed brows only to see Sierra leaning on his arm, fast asleep. Her dark curls covered part of her face, and she was wrapped tightly in a blanket so none of the freezing hospital air could slip by. Even though he was a little bit smaller than average (although he would never admit it outloud, especially if Richie was around) and she was a growing pre-teen, she still looked small. In a way, it reminded him of when he was younger, and how Richie always poked fun at his small stature. 

As if on cue, Richie walked in with two cups of coffee in hand and a beach tote bag resting on his shoulder. 

“Morning Eddie Spaghetti.” He greeted in a quiet voice, and Eddie gave him a glare. Before Richie could say more, his eyes landed on Sierra and his eyebrows shot to the sky. Eddie couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Richie’s shock forming into a bright smile. Even after all the time they’ve spent together, Eddie’s heartbeat still quickened seeing Richie glow with excitement.

“She remembered you?” Richie whispered as he set down the two coffee cups on the small table next to the hospital bed. 

“Sort of.” Eddie replied. “She couldn’t sleep, so we finished the newspaper’s crossword puzzle.” 

He knew she didn’t recognize him at first, but he could tell she felt some familiarity and stuck with her gut instinct. Him talking about the car accident confirmed her assumptions, and he felt a wave of relief when she stayed with him. Words could not describe the joy that burst in his chest when she had grabbed the crossword puzzle and sat next to him. It didn’t matter that they had stayed up until one in the morning to finish the puzzle. If he was being honest, if she couldn’t sleep and wanted to stay up all night, he would have done it, no matter how tired he was. They had talked for hours while doing the puzzle, and Eddie loved every second of it. At the beginning, she asked a multitude of questions about their life and what a regular day for them was like. After all of them were answered, they just chatted about anything that came to mind. She would talk about the different tests she had to take, and the books that Richie had brought for her to pass the time. He mainly talked about the Losers and Richie, and he could tell she clung to every word he said about Richie. He would make side remarks about his husband and how annoying he was, but Sierra would just giggle. 

The sound of Richie quietly putting his bag down broke Eddie from his thoughts. He tried suppressing a smile as he watched his husband walk around the bed to Sierra’s side. Richie brushed her dark hair from her face as gently as he could, and kissed her forehead softly. She stirred slightly at the action, but only to cover part of her face with the blanket. She also turned her head to bury it in Eddie’s arm. Eddie was shocked Richie didn’t melt and turn into a puddle on the spot.

“You’re such a sap.” Eddie remarked as he shook his head. “She’s got you wrapped around her finger.”

“Well, looks like somebody’s jealous they aren’t the favorite.” Richie shot back as he gave Eddie a kiss on the cheek, earning him an eye roll.

“In your dreams, honey.” 

As Richie began to make another remark, a nurse in dark blue scrubs lightly knocked on the frame of the doorway. Her bleach blonde hair was tied back in a loose braid, and she had a small notepad in hand. 

“I know it’s pretty early, but she needs to take her meds.” She said softly as she handed Richie a small plastic cup with pills in it. “The sooner she takes them, the sooner they kick in.”

Eddie remembered Sierra complaining about her head and how she hated the morning, because that’s when the pain was at its worst. 

“Alright. We’ll wake her up.” Richie replied and dug a water bottle out of the tote bag. 

Sierra had already started to wake up at the sound of the nurses voice. Eddie heard her take in a deep breath, then grumble as she covered her head completely with the blanket.

“Sierra,” Eddie said as he turned his head to her.

“I know.” He heard her mumble, cutting off his next sentence. “Just give me five more minutes.”

She stretched her legs out of the cocoon she had made, and rubbed her eyes gently once she emerged from the warmth of the blanket. When the light from the hallway hit her hazel eyes, she squeezed them shut and sighed. 

“How bad does your head hurt?” Eddie questioned as Richie walked around with the water bottle and pills in hand.

“Pretty bad.” She said, and he could hear her trying to hide the pain in her voice. “But not as bad as it has been.” 

Eddie couldn’t help but to kiss the top of her head. She had always been careful to hide her pain from them, but Richie and Eddie had picked up on her cues pretty quickly. She was very independent for a kid her age and tried not to ask for help often, but once Richie or Eddie caught on, she went to them. 

Richie sat in the chair next to Sierra, and when she opened her eyes again, the mask she was trying to build up crumbled. It took everything in Eddie not to give her a big hug. 

“Morning, sleepy-head.” He greeted, and she smiled.

“Good morning.” She replied as she slowly propped herself in a sitting position. She turned her head towards Eddie and gave him a sleepy grin. 

“You know, you snore pretty loud when you sleep.” She remarked as she took the pills from Richie, and Eddie felt his face go pale. When his eyes fell on Richie, he could see a blinding sparks flicker in his husband’s eyes. 

“I  _ knew _ it.” Richie whispered as he pointed an accusing finger at Eddie. “I fucking knew it. I told you I’m not crazy.”

“Says the one who snores so loud he shakes the room.” Eddie hissed back. 

“Don’t try to turn this on me!”

Eddie watched Sierra cover her mouth to try to hide her grin, and he shook his head. 

Richie was about to make another comment, but stopped when he saw Sierra grab the water bottle. She tried opening it by herself, with the pills still in hand, but Richie gently took it back from her and cracked open the cap. As she took her pills, Richie went back to the table to grab the bag he had brought and one of the coffees. 

“If the nurse walks in here, I didn’t bring these.” Richie said as he handed Eddie the coffee, then dug in the bag to pull out two wrapped sandwiches. 

“A disgustingly healthy sandwich for you-” He said as he handed Eddie one sandwitch, then turned to Sierra. “And one PB and J sandwich for you.”

Sierra’s eyes brightened as she took the sandwich from him. 

“And of course it’s got strawberry jelly.” Richie added, and Sierra’s jaw dropped. As she sat there in momentary shock, Richie pulled out a brand new crossword puzzle book.

“Figured you two might need more. I also have-” Richie began, but was cut off abruptly. It took a moment for Eddie and Richie to register the fact that Sierra had pulled Richie into a big hug. Eddie and Richie smiled at one another as Richie hugged her back. 

Eddie could feel his heart melting as he watched Sierra tighten the hug. He smiled to himself as he noted the similarities between Sierra’s dark curls and Richie’s wavy locks. They weren’t related, but the color of their hair was so similar that people would automatically assume she was. They were both on the paler side as well, and that only added to it. Both of them always beamed at those comments, and Richie remarked how it was meant to be: she had his “good-looks” and Eddie’s fiery, brave heart. 

“Thank you.” She said into Richie’s shirt.

~*~

Sierra jolted awake at the sound of a bike bell echoing through the hallway. Laughter rang through the air and she turned her head towards the doorway of the room. Eddie was fast asleep next to her, snoring softly. 

Another bike bell echoed in the hallway, followed by the sound of two people bickering. Sierra crept out of the hospital bed, hoping Eddie didn’t wake up, and approached the entrance slowly. As she made it to the hallway, six bikes whizzed past her. Cold air slapped her cheek as she watched them go by. She couldn’t see their faces very clearly, and all she could tell from them was that there were five boys and one girl. As they cycled by, none of the doctors or nurses noticed them. They were laughing pretty loudly, but no one noticed, or even gave a glance their way. 

One of the boys in the back halted and turned his bike around. The boy looked around her age and wore thick glasses that magnified his eyes. He wore a bright hawaiian shirt and plain brown pants. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but there was something about him that seemed familiar. Did she know him?

“What’s with the hold up?” He called out in her direction. It didn’t look like the question was directed towards her, so she turned around to see who he was shouting at. Her eyes landed on a smaller kid with a fanny pack clamped around his waist and long socks.

She gasped, but neither of the two boys reacted to her. It was the boy she had seen a couple of nights ago. He was on a bike with one foot propped out to hold his balance. The smaller boy was looking behind him, and as she followed his gaze, her blood ran cold. A dark figure was stumbling towards his direction, and she watched his grip on the handlebars tighten.

_ Move _ . She tried to say to him, but she felt frozen in her place.  _ Move! _

As she tried to reach out to the boy, the figure’s shape flickered. As it passed it light, she could see the glow of a white, puffy outfit. The shape would flicker from two different figures, and she couldn’t tell if the quiet, sinister laughter was real or in her head.

Her mind screamed to move and for help. She tried calling to Eddie, but her mouth was locked shut. 

“ _ Are you alright? _ ” A calm voice broke through her mesh of thoughts, and through the echoing laughter coming from the approaching figure. Chills raced down her spine and she tried calming her shaky breath. That wasn’t her conscience or her voice.

“ _ What’s going on? _ ” The voice asked again, and the events unfolding in front of her seemed to freeze in time

“ _ I can’t move. _ ” She thought back to it.

“ _ I’m on my way. _ ” It replied.

“ _ Wait, you can hear me? _ ” She asked, and heard soft, echoing laughter as a reply.

“ _ It’s hard to explain _ .”

Sierra’s whole body flinched at the feeling of someone gently grabbing her shoulders. She turned her head to see a glimpse of bleach blonde hair.

“ _ Can you see them to? _ ” Sierra asked as her gaze fell back on the boy with the fanny pack.

There was a brief pause.

“ _ Yes _ .”

Once Sierra could breathe easier, she turned her body to see a nurse in dark blue scrubs. The lady gave her a soft grin and rubbed her back.

“ _ Don’t worry, it’s not real. _ ” She heard her say, but the lady’s mouth didn’t move. Sierra furrowed her brows and glanced back at the boys, only to see them biking side by side and down the hall.

“ _ Then what is it? _ ”

  
  



End file.
